I know several people who really love this series, and they are all quite diverse, so I thought I would give it a try. And it fit a reading challenge category of the first book in a "new-to-you series." I was not disappointed. 

First off, I had no idea that Aurora Teagarden is a librarian! That instantly made the book cooler. And, having been written in the nineties, before there were things called "podcasts," I truly believe that the premise of the book is a forerunner to the "true crime" podcast. Because Real Murders is the name of the little club that Aurora and her friends have going on. They meet on a regular basis, and at each meeting, one of the members presents a talk about a murder that they have researched. Sounds a lot like "My Favorite Murder," doesn't it? 

It's all fun and games until Aurora shows up for the club meeting one night, and one of the members has been brutally murdered in the place where they are meeting, and the crime scene has been arranged to look like the very murder that Aurora was going to present that night! More murders happen, each one copied after an older, somewhat famous murder (one of them even mimics Lizzie Borden). Aurora and a couple others are convinced that the perpetrator is one of the club members. 

This book was so much fun! First off, I am very familiar with Charlaine Harris's work, having read a number of Sookie Stackhouse books, and all of the existing Gunnie Rose series (hoping there are going to be more of those), so I am a fan, for sure. But darn it, this author is diverse! Vampire stories, dystopian westerns with wizards, and just plain mysteries with nothing supernatural in them. There's more, because I know of at least one or two other series that she has written. 

In this one, one of the main characters is named Robin Crusoe. I thought that was hilarious. And the murders that the book murders were patterned after are real. I looked up the first one, which was the Julia Wallace murder in England. And of course, who doesn't know the story of Lizzie Borden. And a book was mentioned, concerning that murder, and I now have it on my TBR.

There is a good bit of humor in this story, along with the intensity of the plot. But there is plenty of serious mystery, as well, and I didn't guess who the killer (s) was/were. 

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery, as well as anyone who has read some of Ms. Harris's other works. Not exactly "cozy," I don't think, so if you're looking for one of those, you might not want to try this.